It’s not easy to define what it means to be Irish in America. Jim Sheridan clearly mastered it.¬ Frank McCourt quite literally wrote the book on it. The rest of us, well, we do the best we can.¬ Craic Addict¬ aims to sharpen our identities through¬ lively discussions¬ about Hibernian culture, politics, arts and world views. So, pull up a chair and join the conversation.

This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 14th, 2006 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Irish Americans.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Being Irish is “trendy”…so much so, that a lot of people are willing to fake it. This doesn’t bother me at all…in fact, as a true Irishman, I find it to be quite flattering. I can think of numerous instances where people wear shirts that say, “Kiss me, I’m Irish,” or wear other token Irish gear despite not being even remotely Irish. This is great, as it reflect the true inclusive spirit of our people.

McCourt’s most recent book is “Teacher Man” about his experiences in a New York classroom. It’s not as nuanced or eloquent as Angela’s Ashes, but he certinaly knows how to tell a story.

His brother, Malachay, wrote two memoirs as well, but they’re not as gripping. (Kinda like the Sylvester and Frank Stallone of Irish lit, I guess..) However, I’ve seen both give public readings of their work and Malachay, an actor by day, blew me away with his humor, flare and mastery of Irish ballads. Check out http://www.malachymccourt.comfor his tour dates. You won’t regret it.